It's time to go to the beach - Bandiera blu 2015 rankings

It’s time to go to the beach! Bandiera blu,
as every year, has issued its annual report on the the cleanest shores in Italy.

147 Italian coasts have been awarded the “Bandiera
blu 2015”, the international recognition granted by the foundation for environmental
education (Fee).

Liguria ranks at the top with 23 sea
localities, followed by Tuscany with 18 and Marche with 17. Campania is at the
4th place with 14 blue flags followed by Puglia, with 11 coastal areas.

The good news is that “green” beaches are on
the increase this year. There are 7 more shores in the list and 11 new entries.
Unfortunately four localities have lost the title.

Liguria has three new localities awarded and
Campania and Puglia have a new one each. Veneto and Lazio have also a new entry
each, both having now 8 flags. Abruzzo lost two flags and has now 8, while
Emilia Romagna continues to have 9.

Sardinia has 8 localies, having been awarded
two more, and Sicily lost two having now 5, because the loss was compensated by
a new entry. Calabria keeps its 4 flags, Molise confirmed the three flags of
last year, Friuli Venezia Giulia confirms two flags from last year and also
Basilicata kept its one flag.

This is all good news but according to the
“EU’s annual bathing water quality report”, 105 Italian beaches in 2014 had
high levels of E coli and intestinal enterococci, which can cause vomiting and
diarrhoea.

These beaches include Cicala beach on the
east coast of Sicily and Monterosso Al Mare beach in the Cinque Terre region on
the west coast, which “Trivago”, the travel website, had judged to be one of
the country’s top 10 beaches.

Less than 2% of the total number of bathing
sites in Europe were assessed as having poor bathing water quality.